Vehicle recorders require mechanical robustness and the ability to survive in an environment of high thermal energy for a limited duration. Direct exposure to high temperatures can cause a crash survivable memory system, in the vehicle recorder, to fail. Current vehicle recorders are designed to passively protect, from heat, the crash survivable memory system. Passive heat protection is accomplished by adding thermal insulation to the vehicle recorder to shield the crash survivable memory system from external high temperatures. Such insulation can be bulky, and undesirably increase the weight and size of the vehicle recorder. Therefore, there is a need to reduce weight and size of the vehicle recorder while still adequately thermally insulating the crash survivable memory system.